Over the past week, I have been revisiting last year's project in which I wrote and posted a new children's poem each day. For each remaining day of April, I will continue to do so, with a particular focus each day.

Circular Poems

At times, it is difficult to know how to end a poem, so the words end up hanging out in space. One way to tie things up at the conclusion of a story or poem is to go back to the beginning. Writers call this "a circular ending" or "going out the same door you came in."

Sometimes such an ending repeats exactly the same words, and sometimes there is merely a hint of the beginning in the ending, along with something new.Not sure how to end a piece? Check to see if you might find a thread to pick up way back in your first line or two.

Here are a few poems from this year, all with circular endings. What poems or stories do you know with circular endings? Try writing one sometime. (I like this type of ending so much that sometimes I must make myself do something different!)

All year, students in Room 203 at Tioughnioga Riverside Academy have filled the pages of their writers' notebooks with words and illustrations grown from their own ideas and through the inspiration of others. The discovery of children's publishing links found at The Poem Farm opened students' eyes to the possibility of sharing their work with a much larger audience.

One thing led to another, and soon we had a publishing station up and running in our classroom. We filled it with all of the resources needed to polish and publish -- mentor texts, poetry anthologies, samples of published work, submission guidelines, contact information, envelopes, publishing paper, pens, markers, crayons, watercolors, and colored pencils.

A Wall of Publishing PossibilitiesPhoto by Kristie Miner

Baskets Full of Writing Supplies & Mentor TextsPhoto by Kristie Miner

Students have caught the publishing bug, dreaming big, letting their talent and hard work lead the way.

Tara & Erin Compose Writing & Art

Photo by Kristie Miner

Wonderholic

by Tara

My dream as a writer is to have someone recognize the potential of my writing and that I'm not just a girl who wrote something smart. I'm a girl who has guts!

Football

by Connor

My dream is to get my poem published in the magazine STONE SOUP. I hope I get a lot more of my poems published.

Alex Illustrating

Photo by Kristie Miner

Leaves

by Leih

My hopes and dreams of my future poem writing are to get really good and then have my own website (like The Poem Farm). Once I know that publishing is what I want to do, I will then write an anthology of some of my best poems. I'll send my draft to an editor, then when I get the changes back, I will get my finished copy done and sent out. In no time, hopefully I'll have my anthology in stores. Then I hope to become a big poem writer. I draw my pictures with words.

Much gratitude and warmth to these students and their teachers for sharing their beautiful work, exciting publishing station, and writing spirit with us on this Poetry Friday! Please write and let us know if you try some of their ideas.

8 comments:

I had never heard of the term circular poem before.I did, however, recommend the repetition of the beginning line(s) of a poem as a good way to end a poem to my elementary students. It worked out so well for my kids when they hit a wall with their poems and couldn't come up with good endings.

I never noticed how many of your poems have a circular ending. As I re-read the examples you've given us, it makes me realize how much that kind of ending makes a poem seem like a song with the chorus sung again at the end. Maybe your next project can be to put your poems to music!!

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I'm Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, and I've been sharing poems and lessons here since March 2010. The Poem Farm is a safe place for children to explore poems, and it's a place for teachers to find poetry teaching ideas. I post on Fridays during the school year, and I welcome you to make yourself cozy here among the words.

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